Train
by Laughing Still
Summary: Statistically, 60% of all people meet their future spouse through family or friends. Then there's the 0.002% that meet each other in a train wreck. ShikaIno. AU.


_Train_

_By_

_Laughing Still_

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, wish I did but I don't.

Summary: Statistically, 60% of all people meet their future spouse through family or friends. Then there's the 0.002% that meet each other in a train wreck.

Ino Yamanaka at long last heard the familiar synthesized chime of the approaching train and breathed a sigh of relief. It stopped and, along with several others, the young woman boarded it to find herself in an already full compartment. She searched in vain for an empty place as she moved her way carefully forward. Finally, she came to the back of the train car and stopped in amazement as she found an entire seat empty. She quickly found out why. Someone had very recently dumped an entire 2 liter bottle of pop all over and should anyone sit down, they would soon find out that their seat was sticky, and at no extra charge, have a lovely brown stain on the back of their pants. She cursed mentally and saw that somehow, a very _very _small part of the seat was still dry. She decided to take her chances, and sat down.

"This is the F line to Washington. Please stand clear as the doors close. Next stop, Alameda." The computerized female voice announced to a very uninterested public. Ino glanced at the people around her and then fell into a haze. She was shaken out of it when she realized that the object she had been staring at was a pair of highly polished black dress shoes catty-corner from her. She shook her head and looked at it a little more intently. Why would someone be putting their legs on the seat when it was plain that every single space available was needed? The person had to be the biggest jerk in the world, she decided. She then went off on a thought tangent of all the stupid idiots of all the people she had ever known. This thought pattern wasn't interrupted until a stirring was caused by the doors near her.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Someone shouted.

A timid voice answered in an almost unintelligible language. The first person swore loudly "WHY CAN'T YOU STUPID IMMEGRANTS LEARN ENGLISH? GEEZ!"

By this point, Ino was at the doors. The man had stormed off just as she got there and she seriously considered running after him and slicing his jugular vein but there were more pressing matters to attend to. The woman was stuttering and clutching her baby protectively. The anger died in Ino at the sight of her and she spoke softly to the woman while leading her back to where she had been. She offered the seat to the woman, who gratefully if somewhat timidly, accepted. Soon the two were conversing animatedly in fluent French. The people around them gave them odd looks but these bounced off both of them and those that continued to stare would get the death glare from Ino. After several more stops the mother bid the doctor goodbye and got off the train, decidedly more cheerful and thanking the doctor profusely. The doctor said it was no problem and wished her a Merry Christmas as the doors closed on her. Then, turning back to her place, she found it taken and was forced to stand. Luckily, a few of the people had left and there was a little more room now. As she ignored all the people looking at her, and giving her a slightly wider berth, she found she could see the owner of the highly polished dress shoes. He was leaning in the corner between the window and the seat, feet propped on the opposite seat. His eyes were shut, his arms crossed over his chest and Ino could see an earbud in one of his ears and the ipod in his lap. So that was it, he was asleep and didn't know that the compartment was packed. OK, so maybe she could forgive him._ Maybe_.

Slowly, very slowly, more and more people exited the train at various stations, heading home so they could do it all again tomorrow. Ino shook her head and smiled slightly to herself. What a weird world they lived in. She leaned against the pole she was holding onto and closed her own eyes for a second. She was glad it was almost Christmas, it was so pretty this time of year. All the trees had lights or ornaments on them. She liked the ones with the snowflakes best. Maybe they would have a white Christmas this year. She would die for that. It hadn't snowed in so long and they really did need the moisture. Please, _please_ God let it snow.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice she had become an object of interest to one of the people around her.

The irritating female announced the next stop, jerking Ino out of her wishes. Only a few more stops to go, and she'd be home. She was really tired and couldn't wait to get home and take a shower and crash into bed. Incredibly enough, every person got off at the next stop, leaving Ino alone with the sleeping man. She sat back down on her original seat, thinking of her patients and wondering what she could get them for Christmas. For Samantha she would probably get a Barbie doll. Maybe one from the recent princess movies. For Jake, she would die to get him one of the Star Wars Lego sets but she had no idea which ones he had already and which characters he liked. She knew he didn't care for Anakin _at all_ (She had been victim to a half hour rant on how stupid he was today) but Jake liked Jabba and adored Luke (here again, she became the listener of just how _awesome_ with a capital A Luke was). For Maria she didn't know, she was such a quiet girl, never talking except to thank Ino for her care. Ino adored her and longed to get her something really special. Maybe a really, _really_ pretty doll or something along those lines. Yes, that would work. She would look at the American Girl dolls tomorrow and—

"So, a doctor huh?"

Ino jumped as a male voice broke the silence.

"Wh-what?" she asked, confused. She glanced at him and found him looking at her intently. For some bizarre reason and to her eternal embarrassment, she blushed and wasn't able to look him. In the brief glance she had of him, she noticed that his hair was pulled back in a ponytail that reminded Ino sharply of a pineapple and that his eyes were black. She had also noticed that he was fairly decent looking. OK, he wasn't drop dead gorgeous but he was pretty handsome. AGH! Stop thinking like that!

"You're a doctor correct?"

"Um, yes." The dirty floor was suddenly highly fascinating to her. She willed herself to stop blushing. Come on, the guy was only making small talk. She herself would have been bored out of her mind if she hadn't had so much to think about.

"Pediatric Oncologist?"

Her eyes snapped to his and she found him smirking.

"Yes." She said slowly, watching his every move. How on earth did he know that?! To her irritation and slight fear, his smirk widened.

"Where do you work?" he asked casually, though his smirk was still present.

"At a hospital. Downtown."

"Children's?"

Ino forced her expression to stay neutral. Did this guy also know where she lived?! Her social security number as well?! OK, Ino calm down. He's not stalking you…I think.

He smiled. "It's on your badge."

She blinked, coming back to reality. "What?"

He smirked, looking highly amused.

She glanced down at her white med coat and nearly smacked herself. Sure enough, on her left side was a blue medical badge stamped with "INO YAMANAKA M.D." and the Children's Hospital kid with their balloons before it. Underneath that was "Pediatric Oncology"

She was such an idiot. OK, she could live through this. Only like 2 more stops and then she was gone.

"You're Japanese, aren't you?" he asked, clicking something on his ipod and yanking the earbuds out.

"Yeah. My dad immigrated when he was a teen and settled in Denver where he met my mom."

Why the heck had she given him that much information? She really needed to shut up. Who knew what this guy was?

"Really? Same here, only my dad was brought by his parents and lived in Texas first then came to Colorado. Nara, Shikamaru Nara."

She nodded, said the polite thing and went back to ignoring him, hoping he'd take the hint.

He did, sort of.

He stopped talking to her and instead settled for staring at her, leaning back in his seat.

Ino forced herself not to move, instead studying the multicolored seat in front of her, thinking that Washington Station couldn't come soon enough. This guy was weird. She mentally checked to see if she still had her taser in her purse and remembered that she did. Good, maybe she could slip it out and pretend that she was looking for something. If this guy so much as moved a centimeter…

The train slowed and stopped at the next station for about three seconds and then took off again.

_Bing!_ "This is the F line to Washington Station. Next stop Washington. All passengers please depart."

Ino was going to kill that voice. She was going to find the wire to the speakers and cut it. Ino had the rather interesting trait of as she became more tired, she became increasingly noise sensitive and seeming's how it was now going on 11 p.m., she was starting to hate anything louder than the noise of the train. She attempted to turn her thoughts in a more cheerful direction, and settled on her previous topic. It was six days till Christmas and she could _not_ wait. Her house was mostly decorated, all except the tree, she still had to pick that out yet. It was an old family tradition in her family and she had continued it as she had grown up as a kind of tribute to her parents. On Christmas Eve, the Yamanaka family would go and pick out a tree, put it in the stand, and then eat dinner. Then Ino would be sent to bed for a short nap before they went to Midnight Mass (her family was _strongly_ Catholic) and wait for the Christ Child to come. (Her mother had been born in Germany and immigrated in her late teens, hence their Christmas traditions) While Ino laid in her bed, way too excited to sleep, her parents decorated the tree and brought down her presents. Ino could never hear them and to this day, some part of her still believed that the little Child came and filled her stocking. This year though was going to be different. She hadn't been able to get off to go visit her parents who lived on the state line and instead had to be content with calling them. She was going to celebrate this year just like in her childhood only now she was the one decorating the tree. Ino smiled as she thought off all the decorations she was going to put on her tree. This was going to be the absolute _best _Christmas ever! Now if only it would snow, she would be in Heaven. Please, _please_, p-l-e-a-s-e, let it snow.

That annoying voice reminded the two again of their destination but Ino ignored it, suddenly remembering that as she was talking to God anyway, she'd better say her night prayers. Making an almost invisible sign of the Cross, she began to mutter the prayers, feet against the ruined seat edge opposite and her elbows propped on her knees while she looked out the window at the flashing lights.

She was unusually slow that night, the lights flashing past distracting her and more than once, she had to start over.

Once she saw I-25 flash past, she knew she was just over a mile away, better get ready. She picked up her purse and rose, going over to the doors and held onto a pole, still praying. The Nara still hadn't moved. There was complete silence in the car and Ino couldn't have been more grateful.

"For the sake of his sorrowful Passion…" she murmured, hand loosening fractionally on the pole.

_**WHAM!**_

_**SCREEEEEEEEE!**_

Ino was thrown off her feet and felt her head slam into something. She bounced off that and slammed into something else very cold, rolling several feet before something else stopped her. The lights had flickered and died, leaving her alone in the pitch black. The sound of metal scraping against metal was torturing her ears but for some reason, she couldn't cover them.

Silence suddenly fell in the blackness and Ino wondered for a second, terrified, if she was dead.

_No, I can't be. _She thought. _I would know if I were._

"Yamanaka?!" a loud voice suddenly demanded out of dark.

Ino froze, realizing what kind of a situation she was in. She wasn't dead, that was the good thing. However, she was stuck in a chunk of metal, in the dark, somewhere between her destination and the other station, that wasn't moving.

She felt her blood run cold.

Why wasn't it moving?!

Moving as silently as possible, she sat up and ran a quick check on herself. She hurt in a heck of a lot of places, the worst being the back of her skull where she had come into contact with whatever that was. Nothing seemed broken, she could move all of her appendages though some were more sore than—

"YAMANAKA?" Nara yelled again, and Ino could detect a definite note of panic in his voice. He cursed.

_Tell him your alive_ her conscience prodded her.

"No way, I've heard stories and seen way to many incidents of this."

_Ino…_

"H-Here." She said shakily.

"Thank Kami. You hurt?"

"No, I don't think s—DON'T COME NEAR ME!" she screamed, frantically trying to hide somewhere as she heard footsteps.

They stopped. Nara cursed again.

_Click. Click._

No, _no_. This was not happening. He did _NOT _have a gun. Every single horror story of homicide and every ER scene she had ever witnessed came flooding to mind and it was only with difficulty that she stifled a scream. She shifted away again and felt the ground fall away. She squeaked as her head and her rear came into contact with two very hard things at the same time.

"Yamanaka? Argh. Light darn it!"

_Click._

A small light burst into life and Ino's eyes snapped onto it. It was a small flame and she could just barely see Nara's face by it.

"What th—"

"It's a lighter." He said shortly. "And right now, very handy. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."

She stiffened again as he walked slowly over to her and stopped.

"Well, good job Doc, you found the exit. Not the way I would have done it but…" he drifted off.

It was only then she realized that she was wedged in a very awkward position between the doors and the two stairs that led to them. Even in her terror and pain, she felt her face heat up and embarrassment flood through her. It didn't help that she saw a sudden smirk leap onto the Nara's lips.

"Allow me." He said, extending his hand to her.

Ino told herself that that was not sarcasm she heard in his voice.

She accepted it and, with some difficulty, pulled herself up. She couldn't help moaning slightly as she did so.

"Anything broken?" he asked, already back to the bored tone he had used before.

"No. I'll live. I—my purse!" Ino suddenly realized that it wasn't anywhere on her person and panicked. She brushed past Nara, determined to find it when a hand clenched on her wrist.

"Let go!" she demanded, all her terror instantly coming back.

"We have to get off this thing. I don't know how long until somebody finds what's happened and I don't really care to wait for another train to crash into us. Let's go."

"I can't leave my purse in here! Haven't you ever heard of identity theft?" Ino yelled, yanking on her wrist in an attempt to break free. "Let go."

She wasn't going anywhere with this creep.

"This is troublesome." He sighed. "Look, when the train crashed, your purse went flying. I don't know where it is and it's too troublesome to look for it. You can cancel everything. Let's. Go."

"Hell no! I'm not leaving without my wallet!"

"Ino…"

She ignored him and, nearly breaking her arm doing it, yanked away from him. She pulled so hard in fact, that she stumbled backwards slightly. She caught a seat and then realized there would be no way she would find anything as the only light was in the hands of Nara.

She felt like smacking herself for her stupidity. Instead, she took a deep breath and, focusing on a random spot in the darkness and asked

"Could I borrow you lighter?"

He smirked. "You know, I'm really beginning to wonder what you would do without me here. You're the most helpless person I've ever met."

"Thank you, and you're the rudest, definitely the ugliest, and heck, maybe even the fuzziest I've ever had the pleasure of meeting ."

The instant it was out of her mouth she clamped a hand over it, her face heating up rapidly. No, no, _no_ she did _not _just say that! She didn't.

She had. She glanced at the Nara and felt her face go even redder.

"Fuzziest?" he repeated slowly, making Ino want to throttle him right there. "Do I even want to know what that means?"

"No. You don't. May I borrow the light?" Ino wished she could drop dead right there.

"Sure you won't drop it and set yourself on fire?" he asked mockingly, eyebrows raised.

"Positive." She hissed, swearing to kill him at the first opportunity. She snatched the lighter from his outstretched hand and whipped around and started looking for her purse.

As the light fell on the seats, her heart sank as she saw the contents of the formally neatly organized bag were everywhere. There was a tube of lipstick on the floor, spare change on the seat, mascara by the lipstick, a miniature bottle of Advil had sprung open and there were pills all over the place. She suppressed a sigh. She was never going to find her wallet in this mess.

"I'd like to get off this train tonight Doctor."

Ino ignored the impatience in his voice and continued to look for her personal belongings. Her eyes fell on the next couple of seats and spotted a dark lump on the seat. There it was! She snatched it and, and shoved the entire thing in her pocket.

"Finally, leave the rest and let's go."

She turned back just in time to find Mr. Nara shoving something in his own pocket. She couldn't help what she said next.

"Lose something, Mr. Nara?" She lifted the light to see his expression.

He smirked. "Not at all, Doctor. May I have my light back?"

She shot him a death glare in the dark. He chuckled.

"Don't make me repeat myself Doc."

Kami this man was infuriating! She handed him the lighter and, without bothering to thank her, he went back to the doors. Ino followed, hanging back slightly.

"Who the hell designed this?" She heard him mutter. There was a sharp crack and she saw a piece of plastic fall to the floor. "This is so troublesome."

The doors grudgingly parted as Mr. Nara yanked them open and killed the lighter. Within second, the darkness was punctured again by another light, this time electronic.

Ino forced herself to remain still as Mr. Nara messed with his cell phone. His girlfriend had probably texted him or something equally stupid.

"Alright. That's done." He muttered.

He suddenly flashed the light in her direction and Ino flung up an arm as she was momentarily blinded.

"Kay, Doc, I'm going to go out and see where we are and if it's safe to leave, got it? _Stay here_ OK? As in don't move until I tell you to alright?"

"Got it." She said through gritted teeth. Why hadn't she become an anesthesiologist?

"Good. Do you have a phone?"

"Yes." Ino willed her fist to unclench. Did this guy think her completely stupid?

"Well, I'm impressed. Give me it's number."

That was it, he was gonna die. Scowling, Ino did as requested and watched as he programmed it in.

"Alright, stay here Doc." As soon as he was finished, he turned and tramped down the stairs, Ino instinctively following the light that was leaving with him.

"Doc." He warned, stopping for a second.

She froze on the topmost step.

"Thank you." The light began moving again. "Troublesome woman."

Ino ignored that.

It wasn't at all nice watching the only source of light getting farther and farther away from her. She also didn't like the constant _crunch crunch_ of Nara's feet getting steadily quieter.

"Nara?" she called tentatively.

_Crunch, crunch cru—_

He had stopped moving.

"Nara?" a little louder this time. Ino's eyes were glued to the tiny square of light.

She blinked, and the light was gone.

"_NARA!_" she shrieked, jumping out of the train car and running.

Years later, Ino would say that this was the worst moment of her life and that if there was Hell, this was what it would be. Deafening silence that ate at your sanity combined with strange noises that your imagination warped beyond recognition. Add impenetrable darkness and a chunk of metal somewhere to your right, and you have Dr. Yamanaka's worst nightmare. Her footfalls echoed off the walls and she stumbled blindly, cursing mentally. Her foot caught on something and she tripped, screaming.

"Doc?"

For a second time that night, Ino was blinded by the backlight of the cell phone. Relief like she had never imagined swept through her and for one insane moment, she swore to hug Nara after all this was over instead of kill him. She moved to get up.

"Nara, what were you—"

"Don't move." He ordered.

Ino froze and heard him sigh.

"Honestly Doc, how do you do this? Give me your left hand—just lift is straight up so you don't touch any more glass….Thank you. Now, I'm going to pull you straight up OK? Troublesome woman."

Ino ignored the last comment again and did as she was told. His hand was surprisingly warm and she instantly thanked Heaven it was so dark as she felt her felt her face to red.

_Aw,_ her inner gushed smirking, _you_ like _him._

_Shut up!_ Ino ordered fiercely, going even redder.

"Doc?"

"Wh-what?"

Ino felt like slapping herself for stammering.

"I asked if you're OK." He said slowly.

"Yeah, fine." She replied quickly, praying he hadn't noticed her flushed face. She could just barely make out him quirking an eyebrow.

"If you say so. Come on, over here. The train took the corner too fast like I suspected, hence the crash. The first few cars anr pretty banged up but there's an opening we can crawl through."

Ino nodded and followed, only realizing that they were still holding hands after about a minute of walking.

"Um, Mr. Nara?"

"What? Watch yourself, there's a chuck of metal there."

"Uh, my hand, if you don't mind." She tugged it slightly to make her point.

To her horror, his grip only tightened and he pulled her slightly closer.

"No, it's hard enough to keep track of you as it is and I really want to get home tonight. Not to mention your balance absolutely sucks, as proven by your constant tripping."

Ino's temper flared. "I do _not_ trip constantly!"

"Un-huh, what do you call that little stunt that you just pulled? Bend your head though here."

"I was scared!" She defended, ducking as ordered.

"And the first time? There's glass here."

"What first time?" Ino tried her best not to wince as the sound of glass being ground against rock tortured her ears.

"On the train."

She flushed in anger. "I was _thrown._" She stumbled suddenly, bumping into Nara and her nose bouncing off something hard. "Ow."

"Point proven."

She could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Are we there yet?" she asked crossly, rubbing her sore nose.

He had the nerve to chuckle. "Patience, O Graceless One. The train crashed halfway into the turn and considering we were in the second to last car, we have a ways to go. You'll be able to tell, I promise."

There was silence now except for their footsteps and Ino searched for a new subject. Nara stopped suddenly and Ino bumped into him again.

"Sorry." She mumbled.

He seemed not to hear her and she stood on tiptoe to see over his shoulder.

What looked like half a train car was twisted into an unnatural shape, blocking their way. Metal and glass were everywhere and Ino felt her heart sink right to her toes as her eyes found no opening in the wreckage.

Nara sighed. "Troublesome. Well, over here."

He turned toward the train and before Ino quite knew what was happening, she was twisting herself into odd shapes and they were forging through the mess that not 20 minutes ago was a car identical to the one they had left. This thought prompted Ino to wonder if there had been passengers in here too. Her stomach clenched and she hastily shoved the bloody images that appeared in her mind to the very back of it.

"Something wrong Yamanaka?" Nara asked out of nowhere.

"What?" her voice came out and octave higher than normal and Ino knew there was no use pretending. "I-I was just wondering if there was anyone in here. You know…" she hesitated. "Anyone who..who didn't make it."

She waited for a cutting remark, saying how stupid she was being, or at least a scoff. She almost hoped he would say she was being foolish, just to reassure her in some bizarre way that there hadn't been anyone here.

As the silence lengthened, Ino became increasingly uncomfortable and she wished she had kept her mouth shut.

"I don't think there was anyone here." Mr. Nara said slowly. "We've almost gone through the middle of this mess and haven't seen anything. There's always the chance we missed something but I don't think so. It would be a fairly painless way to go though, that's one good thing."

Ino nodded glumly, not wanting to continue the subject and sending a secret prayer to Heaven's gate that Nara's words were true and they hadn't left some poor person to die.

There was silence again, undisturbed except by Nara's instructions to her and their footsteps. Most of Ino's brain shut down and she was beginning to feel exhaustion invade her system again. She responded subconsciously to her companion's directions and she didn't know how much later it was when he spoke again.

"Alright Doc, we're out of the tunnel. Now comes the fun part."

"I thought that was the fun part." Ino replied, a slight smirk appearing on her face.

"Well, fine, this is the slightly less fun part then." He amended. "Harder though."

"Mmm." She said, not really paying attention and rubbing her arm with her one free hand. "Dang it's cold out here." She complained to no one in particular.

Nara snorted as they continued. "You out-of-staters are all alike. No chill tolerance whatsoever."

"Excuse me, I've lived here all my life" Ino responded slightly sharply.

"Born here?"

"Yep, Room 208 in the same hospital I work at."

"Really? Well, it is a small world after all. I was born in 209. What month?"

Ino hesitated a second before answering. "September."

"So you're a Virgo and sapphire and your flower's a morning glory…My sister's birthday is in September." He explained in response to Ino's stunned silence.

"Ahh," she said, nodding. "What about you? When's your birthday?"

"In the fall." He replied casually.

Ino didn't know how she knew it, but somewhere along this conversation, he had lied to her. She suspected it was with his sister as there had been the slightest stumbling when he had said it. It had come out more of a 'Mys—sister' rather than 'My sister.' Almost like he was going to say 'Myself' or something along those lines.

Ino decided it was time for him to start sharing some information.

"So, do you work downtown, Mr. Nara?"

"Watch it, there's part of the track there. No, I work out at Buckley Air Force Base."

"Really?" Ino's eyebrows went up. "And what do you do there?"

He chuckled. "Don't sound so surprised Doc, I am smarter than I look. Have to be since I work in classified programs."

Ino ignored the first comment. "How has the current administration affected you?"

He shrugged and for the first time, ino noticed that she was walking beside him instead of behind. He expression had darkened and she could guess his feelings on the subject.

"It hasn't really, not yet anyway. It will though. The only good news is that he can't mess with too much stuff. It was started way before him and the most he can do is fire whole bunch of people and then work the rest of us to death, thereby slowing the whole thing up a few years." He sighed. "How bout you? I can only imagine what you're going to do if they nationalize healthcare."

As she responded, it struck Ino that this Nara person was just a normal guy. OK so she _knew_ he was normal before, but now he seemed human, as opposed to the jerk he had been before. She found he was just as concerned about the way the country was gone as she was and both agreed the next state race would decide the political fate of the state for good. Before long, he was telling her all about his work and how his day had gone, she trying to keep names and terms straight as she dodged electric train tracks. She was reminded forcefully of when she was younger and her father would come home and do the exact same thing with her mother. The mere thought made her go a brilliant red and she was instantly grateful it was so dark out.

"And then I—something wrong Doctor?"

"What? No, I'm fine." She said hastily.

"Your face is all red."

Great, thanks Nara, and you just made it go a whole lot redder.

He stopped and looked at her, eyes roving all over her face. Ino refused to meet his curious gaze and decided that, if the earth just suddenly wanted to open up and swallow her, that would be fine right now.

"Do you hear something?" Ino asked, cocking her head and mentally thanking her lucky stars for this distraction.

"It's music." He said finally. "Sounds like Christmas music."

"It's 'Deck The Halls'" Ino said, recognizing the familiar song "Like an electronic remix or something."

"Probably Manheim." Nara remarked as they began walking again. "They usually do that type of stuff."

"Do you like them?" Ino asked, stepping over yet another piece of track.

This, of course, led to discussing their favorite bands and Ino was amazed to find he listened to many of the same songs she did. They had just gotten to telling each other their favorite _Survivor_ songs when Ino found herself accending steps and emerging onto a very familiar concrete platform.

"Well Doc, here you are. Washington Station, only 55 minutes later than expected."

Ino smiled, her mood skyrocketing along with her body temperature as they entered the parking garage. She hadn't noticed how cold she was until then. She supposed it was because of Nara's conversation. She'd have to thank him for that too.

"So, which one is your car?" he asked, stopping and looking at the five in front of them.

"Uh." Ino's good mood evaporated as the horrible truth sank in. She didn't _have _a car. Normally, she got on the train and then caught the bus that dropped her off in her neighborhood and walked home. That bus had obviously long since come and gone, and now, she was stranded again.

"Oh, I uh, walk from here." She said quickly, hoping he'd buy it.

"Really? And how far is that?"

Rats, an eyebrow was up. She'd have to make this next lie really believable if she was going to make this work.

"About 5 minutes." She responded casually.

Times 3.

Mr. Nara looked thoroughly unimpressed. "Un-huh. Come on, over here."

Taking her hand again, (which she didn't care for _at all_) he led her over to a very nice looking BMW.

"Get in."

"What?!" Ino wrenched her hand out of his and took as step back. "No! I couldn't!"

"Why not?" Nara crossed his arms.

"Because!" She said, crossing her own arms.

"That was a brilliant comeback Doc." He replied sarcasticly, rolling his eyes. "Really, why I didn't think of that—"

"Oh shut up!" she snapped.

He smirked.

Ino had changed her mind again. He was dead.

"I want to get home tonight Doc. And I can only do that if you're home. So get in."

"I will walk, thank you." She said through gritted teeth.

He sighed. "This is so troublesome."

She couldn't agree more. Her eyes fell on his crossed arms and widened as a bright red stain spread over the previously spotless white cloth.

"What's that?" she demanded.

"Nothing." He tightened his arms, concealing the blemish.

"You're hurt, aren't you?"

"No."

"Shikamaru!" she yelled, taking a threatening step towards him. "I'm a doctor. Let me see it!"

"No."

Ino disregarded him and attempted to pry his right arm off the other.

"Not unless you let me take you home."

Ino stopped and looked up at him, wondering if he were joking. One look at his eyes proved that theory wrong.

"Fine." She said, knowing it was the only way she'd ever be able to treat him.

He smirked. "Knew you'd see reason Doc."

In response, Ino opened the passenger door and buckled in.

The drive to her house was mostly silent, Ino too ticked to bother with conversation.

"So you were wrong." He commented as they got out and she unlocked her front door.

"About what?"

"The time it took to get here."

"Give or take a minute." Ino led the way up the steps and into her kitchen. "Over here."

"Try _10_ Doc." He said drily. "Why don't you just admit you were lying? Can't imagine why though. Don't you trust me?"

"Maybe I'm just bad at estimating time." She shot back, pulling out her first aid kit and putting it by the sink, dodging the last question.

He snorted. "And maybe you are just a horrible liar. Even if your words were convincing—which they aren't—your face and hands always give you away."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" she demanded, torn between hurt and anger.

His eyebrows went up again. "I should think that was obvious. Your face says the complete opposite of your voice and you have the inability to maintain eye contact while lying."

"And my hands?"

"I'll tell you later." He promised.

Ino didn't believe him for a second. "Alright, I fulfilled my part of the bargain. Now it's your turn."

"Ahh yes." He smiled. "I was wondering when you would ask."

He pulled his left hand out of his pocket and Ino couldn't stifle the gasp that escaped her as she saw it. His entire hand was covered in blood, thanks to a jagged cut about a ¼ of an inch wide that stretched all across the back of it. It looked like he had taken an pretty good chunk of meat out of it and she thought she could see some of the bone underneath all the blood.

"Lovely, isn't it?" Nara remarked, watching her.

"How in the world did you manage this?" She grabbed a towel and after soaking it in water, began cleaning his fingers of the dried blood.

"I don't know. It caught on something in the tunnel and I just ripped it off. I think it was metal as glass usually cuts cleaner."

"This is going to hurt." Ino muttered as she poured rubbing alcohol over the cut. His hand clenched and she heard him hiss slightly in pain.

"Sorry." She apologized, knowing exactly how painful this was.

He shrugged. "It's a necessary evil. You never did tell me what you were doing for Christmas by the way."

"Working." Ino said lightly, winding the medical tape around his hand. "One of the girls is flying back to Poland to be with her family and I offered to take her shift."

"Sounds fun." He commented.

Ino shrugged. "Eh, I don't mind. I have nothing else to do and no family near so it doesn't matter. Who knows? Maybe something exciting will happen."

"It's a hospital, I would imagine it's always exciting. Bleeding, mutilated patients screaming in pain, doctors yelling orders above that, new parents freaking out…"

She smiled as they walked back out to her driveway. "That's the ER. In Oncology it's pretty quiet. Well, have a good night. And…" she hesitated for a second, a light blush on her cheeks. "Thanks for getting us out of there."

"No problem. You probably wouldn't have made it without me, though it would have been interesting to see if you could. Well, Goodnight Doctor Graceless. Merry Christmas too before I forget. I don't think it'll be a white one though. They're talking low 60's."

"We'll see." Was all Ino said, watching him back out and turn onto the street.

"Happy Christmas Ino!"

"Merry Christmas Anita! Have fun in England!" Ino called, waving to her friend as she left the hospital. She turned away from the exit and began the walk back up to the 5th floor sighing. Her Christmas so far hadn't been very merry. It was OK, just not spectacular. Last night had been enjoyable, she had decorated her Christmas tree and brought down her presents, all the while talking to her parents. They were well, just disappointed that she couldn't come visit. But Ino knew they understood and she had sworn on pain of disinheritance that she would be there for New Years. At one point her mother has mentioned that a train had crashed near Ino and had asked if Ino knew about it. Ino had dodged the question, thanking her lucky stars that she hadn't mentioned her little adventure as her mother would freak out and her father would tease her about "Prince Charming on Lightrail."

Gosh, had it really been only six days since that had happened? It felt like forever. She hadn't seen Nara since then and once or twice today she had caught herself wondering how he was spending his Christmas. Anyway, back to her evening.

After she had finished talking to her parents, she had headed upstairs to get ready for Midnight Mass. Just as she had entered the church, a frantic Deacon Bob had asked if she would be sacristan as the person who was supposed be had caught the flu. Ino had seen that he was about 2 seconds from snapping and hastily agreed. A hectic half hour later, Mass began and to Ino's amazement, it had gone perfectly. 2 hours later she had walked out and headed to the hospital, figuring since she was wide awake anyway, she might as well go in. from there, her Christmas had gone downhill, partly because of her co-workers and the sheer inactivity and partly because the lack of sleep was catching up with her. Already she had had four cup of coffee and was on her fifth.

_As soon as I get off, _ She thought, raising the wonderfully hot cup to her lips. _I'm going to change clothes and crash._

A sudden excited shriek caused Ino to jump and spill coffee over her med coat. Cursing mildly, she walked out of the break room toward the source of the sound.

"Ino! Ino! Look what just came for me! Oh I _have_ to thank him!" A very delighted Dr. Gracie Montoya squealed, jumping up and down. A large potted poinsettia sat cheerfully on the front secretary's desk, clearly just delivered.

"Isn't it wonderful?" Jessica, a med tech, gushed. "Look at the tag!"

A rectangle of white paper was shoved under Ino's nose and scrawled in a very loopy, messy hand was:

_For Dr. Graceless. Merry Christmas._

"He spelled your name wrong. There's no 'l' in Gracie. And—" she looked closer at it, frowning. "He put in extra letters, like about four."

"Oh that's Pedro!" Gracie said breezily, refusing to be concerned. "He has such horrible spelling! And he often has someone else write it to confuse me!"

"Wait, this isn't his handwriting?" Ino's frown deepened.

Gracie giggled. "Of course not silly. His is all cramped and small. Oh but isn't he a sweet heart? I have to thank him! Come on Jessie, let's go show Mary!"

Grabbing the plant, both girls bolted down the hall, giggling madly.

Shaking her head, Ino watched the tow go. They were going to damage that plant if they weren't careful.

The second she finished this thought, something flew off and fell to the floor, rolling a second before stopping.

"Hey Guys!" Ino called, dashing forward and picking the thing up. "You forgot something!"

"Keep it!" Gracie yelled back. "It's my present to you! Merry Christmas!"

Ino rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. That girl.

"I wonder what it—" Ino froze as she looked at what she had pick up.

A perfect Japanese morning glory sat shyly in her hand, at least 6 inches across. The purple base couldn't have been deeper and the thin red stripes leading to the center of the flower looked like fire red ribbons.

How one earth had this gotten into the poinsettia? Poinsettia's were as common as Christmas lights this time of year but one would be hard pressed to find a morning glory, especially one as beautiful as this. Ino would know too, her family owned a flower shop and she had spent most of her life helping there. Not once had she seen morning glories, her father claiming they were too fickle to grow. This one then must have either come from some very high end flower shop or a private greenhouse.

"What cha looking at?" A perky voice queried.

Ino looked up to find Elizabeth walking toward her.

"Lizzy, what are you doing out of bed?" Ino reprimanded gently. "You should be resting."

"Is that your flower?" the girl asked, totally ignoring Ino's question and pulling her hand down to see the morning glory. She gasped and her eyes widened as she touched it hesitantly.

"It's beautiful." She turned shining eyes away from the flower to look up excitedly at Ino. "It's from your boyfriend, isn't it?"

"Stuff and nonsense." Ino huffed, shooing her back to her room.

"But it's true!" Elizabeth protested, walking backward. "Your face is all red!"

Ino's hands jumped involuntarily to her face as the hallway suddenly became very warm.

"See? I was right!" Lizzy squealed triumphantly.

"I don't _have_ a boyfriend Elizabeth, go back to bed."

Lizzy faltered slightly, face falling momentarily but a second later the smile was back, alarming Ino. What was worse, it was 10 times brighter than before.

"A secret admirer than!" she shouted, ecstatically.

"Elizabeth! Please!" Ino begged, praying no one heard the child's proclaimation.

"He sent you the flower because he likes you but can't bring himself to confess! An—and he's gonna come here and take you to a really fancy dinner and give you a present and talk to you an—"

"Lizzy please!" Ino hissed, trying to catch the small girl to drag her back to her room.

"—Then you'll go back to your house and they'll be mistletoe and—"

"Lizzy!"

"—he'll _kiss_ you!" Elizabeth sank against the wall, completely enraptured in her fantasy, staring dazedly into space. Ino pounced.

Scooping the girl up, she marched back to her room, feeling sure that she had just been transported to Death Valley for as hot as it was on this stupid floor. Elizabeth didn't even protest when Ino dumped her unceremoniously on the bed and said "Goodnight." before escaping.

She was precisely 5 steps away when—

"Doc?"

Ino groaned and turned back, knowing the sweet voice could mean nothing good.

"What?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest and venturing no farther in than the doorway.

Elizabeth was sitting on her bed with a puppy dog look on her face and hugging her feet. Ino nearly groaned again.

"Can you put the flower in your hair?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Why?"

"Cause I wanna see how it looks. _Please?_ I won't tell anyone about your boyfriend if you do." She bribed.

Ino hesitated a second. It was a well known fact that Elizabeth had the loosest tongue on the entire floor and Ino wouldn't doubt the news of her supposed 'boyfriend' would be all over the place in a day max.

"Fine." She agreed, shoving the flower into her hair. "Happy?"

Elizabeth nodded, smiling.

"Good. Now go to sleep." Ino ordered. She waited until Lizzy was under the covers and her eyes were closed before turning back into the hall and walking away.

"YOU HAVE TO TELL ME EVERYTHING WHEN YOU GET BACK!" Lizzy yelled.

Ino rolled her eyes and felt her face flame again.

"That girl is going to kill me." She muttered, massaging her temples with one hand. Ugg, great. Now she had a headache.

Grabbing her coat and signing out, she headed toward the parking garage. She was going to go home and take a nap. Or maybe she'd eat something and then go to bed. Heck, when _had_ she eaten last?

As though to prove her point, her stomach suddenly growled.

"Oh shut up." She muttered crossly as she walked out of the hospital and the sharp winter wind hit her. "I'll take care of you soon enough."

Seemingly satisfied, her stomach quieted again and she sighed in relief. A small smile crept onto her face as she looked up at the sky. It had been snowing ever since she had walked out of Mass and was still falling steadily, turning dreary downtown Denver into a winter wonderland. She allowed herself a few moments rest but the cold wind prompted her to continue walking toward her car, and warmth.

The parking garage was completely deserted and Ino hummed to herself as she continued walking.

"Did you know you've been officially declared dead? Well, kind of."

Ino jumped and spun around, knowing that voice didn't belong to who she thought it did.

Oh yes it did.

Leaning against a black Cadillac Escalade with his hands crossed over his chest and that habitual smirk was—

"Nara!" she shrieked. "What are you doing here?!"

The smirk didn't move. "Are you always this loud?"

Kami she felt like she had just been transported back in time.

"Only when someone scares me." She replied curtly.

"Ahh, well, I'll keep that in mind. Nice flower by the way, where'd you get it?"

Ino's eyes flicked to the top of her head where the flower was even though the only thing she could see was blond hair.

"A friend gave it to me. It fell out of the poinsettia her boyfriend sent her and she didn't want it, so I took it."

An indescribable emotion flicked over his face and before Ino had time to figure out what it was, it was gone, smirk firmly back in place.

"Well that was nice of her. It really does look nice with the ballpoint pen."

Ino's hand shot to her hair as she cursed mentally. Why on earth couldn't someone have _told _her she left her pen in her hair? She really needed to break that habit. Ahh, there it was…no, over farther…no, she still couldn't feel it. What the heck?

A stifled laugh made her stop searching and look at the only other person there. One of his hands was covering up his mouth and the brown eyes were dancing wickedly.

"You really suck, you know that?" Ino's hand dropped to her side and she glared at Nara, even as she felt her face grow hot.

"Yes but do I suck so much that I can't buy you dinner?"

Ino froze. "What?"

She would swear that God either really hated her, or really liked her and was just showing it in an incredibly strange way. She opened her mouth to politely decline when her stomach answered for her.

Shikamaru smiled. "Alright, I thought so. Come on."

"Wait, what place is open on Christmas Day?" she asked, following him.

"I know a few. Get in."

Ino did as she was told, taking a second to admire the car. Nara mustn't be doing too bad if he could have a Cadillac _and _a BMW.

"Doc, that thing you have your hand on, it's called a handle. You pull it and—"

"Oh shut up!" She pulled the door open and got in, not looking at him.

He smirked. "Very good, you are more intelligent than you look."

She was going to kill him.

"By the way, you were right."

"Oh? About what?"

"We did get a white Christmas."

Ino smiled. "See? Pray hard enough and anything's possible."

He reached down and handed a chunk of newspaper to her. "Thought you might be interested in that. The article's right here, though you come in later."

He pointed to the left hand section of the page as he turned onto the main road.

"_Lightrail Train Crash Mystifies Authorities_." Ino read out loud, unfolding the paper and smoothing it out. She scanned the article. It started out with their crash and then went on to explain how the Lightrail worked.

"'"The train should not have crashed." Said RTD expert Robert Floyd.'" Ino read out loud again. "'"We cannot find anything that would have caused it to crash. It did not derail, or malfunction or take the curve to fast. In fact, that curve is one of the gentlest on the entire track, which only adds to the confusion. We may never know how this happened."'"

Ino looked up at Shikamaru, folding the news paper back up and a thoughtful on her face. "How do you think it happened? I mean if they can't find a logical reason then…" she drifted off. "You know, now that I think about it, we were the only two on there, weren't we? Kinda strange if you think about it. I mean why did the train crash there? And at that time too. V—"

"It wasn't an accident." He said suddenly, stopping the car and looking at her.

"What do you mean? Of course it was. It didn't happen on purpose, did it? Not like you rigged it or anything."

For once, his expression was all seriousness. And as his eyes bored into hers, Ino found her heartbeat speeding up.

"Shikamaru?"

He took a deep breath. "It was a prayer. An answered prayer."

_**Fin**_


End file.
